Donation_For_Others

The Telegraph | Jess Charlton Photo: From left, Ray and Eleanor Hess and Eleanor's parents, Larry and Vivian Lefferts, hold a picture of their late son, John. The Lefferts have put on the fireworks display in Alton since 1998. Vivian is riding in this year's Tournament of Roses Parade in honor of her son's donor cause.   ALTON - Eight years ago, Vivian and Larry Lefferts experienced the unimaginable, unexpected loss of their 22-year-old son, John, due to an aortic aneurysm. Vivian, a local woman, born and raised in the area, has been chosen by Gift of Hope to represent them in the Tournament of Roses Parade on Jan. 1, 2013, in Pasadena, Calif. The Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network is a not-for-profit organization that has been participating in the Rose Parade for the past 10 years. It coordinates organ and tissue donations and is devoted to helping bring awareness in the Illinois and northern Indiana area. This year, there will be 32 riders and 72 floragraph portr...

Contra Costa Times | Gary Peterson It's a game they know well. Julius Heilman leans forward near where 21-month-old Matthew Ouimet is seated, a ballpoint pen conspicuously tucked in the breast pocket of his lab coat. In a ritual honed over months, Matthew impishly "steals" the pen. It's difficult to tell which of the two enjoys the game more. In that moment, Matthew is the epitome of a bright-eyed, adorable toddler -- by turns busy, curious, fun-loving, restless. He swipes at an iPad's screen like a lifelong techie. He performs the seated dance his family has dubbed the "wiggle butt." He uses the pen to draw squiggly lines on his bedsheets. "He's as normal as can be," said his father, Kelly Ouimet. "Until you pull his shirt off." Two dialysis catheters protrude from Matthew's chest. He has a feeding tube implanted in the left side of his torso. A peritoneal catheter snakes along the right side of his abdomen and into his stoma...

The Tennessean | Tom Wilemon Photo:(from left) Dr. James Eason, chief of transplantation at the University of Tennessee-Methodist Transplant Institute in Memphis, Kim Van Frank, Executive Director of Mid-South Transplant Foundation, and Jill Grandas, Executive Director for Tennessee Donor Services, field questions from the Shelby County Commission as the Commission discuss a dispute between University of Tennessee-Methodist Transplant Institute and the Mid-South Transplant Foundation over the distribution of human organs to ailing patients.(Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal) / The Commercial Appeal A long-standing share arrangement that has given transplant centers in Tennessee first priority for in-state liver donations has come to an end despite a waiver request from a Memphis hospital. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services denied that request this month. Wait times for people in need of liver transplants are likely to become longer unless more people agree to become do...

Chicago Tribune | PatrickSvitek Doctor  ( Joe Raedle, Getty Images ) ' Nondirected living donation' participant at Northwestern Memorial a rare but growing breed of altruist By this time next month, Hannah Pilla may have one fewer kidney. And she can't wait. The recent graduate of Roosevelt University has been cleared for organ donation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, bringing her one step closer to a personal goal: Giving one of her kidneys to a complete stranger. The 21-year-old's interest in nondirected living donation â€" the medical term for giving organs to a purposely unknown recipient â€" began after she read about it in her seventh-grade social studies class. When a close friend lost a kidney in high school, Pilla found herself making a lighthearted promise. "I always joked with her and said if she lost a kidney, I would lose mine, too," Pilla recalled. She then set a more concrete goal: to commemorate her entrance into the adult world wi...

WIBC 93.1 | Reed Parker Maria Knowlton preparing to leave for the Rose Bowl Friday morning. (photo courtesy IOPO) The Indiana Organ Procurement Organization (IOPO) is sponsoring a lung transplant recipient who will represent the state in the Rose Bowl Parade. Maria Knowlton of Walkteron will be one of 32 float riders on Donate Life's float. Listen:  93 WIBC's Ray Steele with Maria Knowlton on Indy's Morning News Knowlton says she suffers from Cystic Fibrosis, which destroyed her lungs, resulting in a double lung transplant 12 years ago. Knowlton was placed on the transplant list in 1998, but she says the only details she knows about her donor is that he was a 42-year old Ohio man who died suddenly in Ft. Wayne. Knowlton says this float is special since it will feature florographs, which are pictures of donors who saves many lives across the country. 72 florographs will be featured on the float. Over 116,000 people are waiting for a transplant nationally, over 1,400 are in ...

ABC Los Angeles | Darsha Phillips PASADENA, Calif. (KABC) -- As New Year's Day inches closer, volunteers are hustling to deck out their floats for the 124th Rose Parade. Hundreds of volunteers were expected to fill the Phoenix Decorating Rosemont Pavilion in Pasadena Saturday to glue on tens and thousands of flower petals to the various floats before they roll down the parade route on Monday. This year's theme is "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" which is inspired by Dr. Seuss. Workers decked out the Donate Life float Saturday morning with flowers of all colors. The float is titled "Journeys of the Heart" and emphasizes an individual's journey surrounding organ donation. Crew Chief Mike Thompson says his volunteers view decorating the floats as an honor. "We're very, very blessed. Donate Life has a group of volunteers, that in my opinion, are second to none," Thompson said. "My volunteers are the best. They come here, they love what they...

Hemet | Tom Sheridan Photo: John Beers will be riding in the Rose Parade next week on a float dedicated to organ donors, manned by transplant recipients, he holds a photo album with a photograph of a woman named Carol who was his donor for a kidney. Beers was a construction and facilities manager who enjoyed backpacking and mountain climbing until his kidneys started to fail and he needed a transplant, which he received seven years ago. Credit: Don Boomer There is no telling where John Beers would be today if a handful of complete strangers had not reconsidered their decision. It became, quite literally, a matter of life or death. Certainly, Beers wouldn't be preparing to ride in the Rose Parade on New Year's morning, in front of hundreds of thousands of people along the route in Pasadena, and millions more on television, which beams the event to more than 200 international territories and countries. "I can hardly wait," said Beers, 68. "I'm just excited. It...

WBNS 10 TV, Columbus Ohio Float No. 48 in this year’s Rose Parade will honor 40 Ohio children and their families who made the gift of life possible for others. The names of those Ohio children will be featured on the Donate Life float in the New Year’s Day parade in Pasadena, Calif. One of the many notes on the float is to Tim and Tammy Cooper, about their daughter Shelby. “Thinking of your family and hero, Shelby,” reads the note to the Coopers. Shelby Cooper was 16 when she died in a car crash. Cooper was an organ donor, and her parents said it was not a hard decision to pass their daughter’s organs along. Read more

Organ and Tissue Donation Blog | The Kwanzaa Web Site Happy Kwanzaa! HERE IS NO WAY TO UNDERSTAND and appreciate the meaning and message of Kwanzaa without understanding and appreciating its profound and pervasive concern with values. In fact. Kwanzaa's reason for existence, its length of seven days, its core focus and its foundation are all rooted in its concern with values. Kwanzaa inherits this value concern and focus from Kawaida, the African philosophical framework in which it was created. Kawaida philosophy is a communitarian African philosophy which is an ongoing synthesis of the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world. Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing family, community and culture among African American people as well as Africans throughout the world African community. These values are called the Nguzo Saba which in Swahili means the Seven Princi...

The Newtown Bee | Nancy K. Crevier Floragraphs on the 2012 Tournament of Roses Parade Donate Life float, “One More Day,” honor the memory of organ donors, transplant candidates and recipients, and living donors, as does the Dedication Garden that decorates each year’s Donate Life float. This year, the 2013 “Journey of the Heart” Donate Life Dedication Garden will include 26 roses in vials carrying the names of each of those who died at Sandy Hook Elementary School. â€"photo courtesy of Tournament of Rose. Among the 41 floats that will drift past paradegoers at the 124th Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade, January 1, 2013, in Pasadena, Calif., one will carry a remembrance of the 20 schoolchildren and six staff members who perished December 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School. That is the Donate Life float. Inspired by the "26 Acts of Kindness" call that originated with a tweet by NBC newswoman Ann Curry (originally 20 acts), said Donate Life float committee volu...

Huffington Post Amy D. Waterman, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine I first started coming to Pasadena, California to decorate the Donate Life Rose Parade Float in December, 2009. I was tired and in pain. My husband had left me in November, asking for a divorce. I didn't bother to get a tree. I didn't want to open the red and green tubs filled with stockings, snow globes and red velvet tablecloths. I couldn't fake the holiday spirit -- I was nowhere near it. Seeing my sadness, a friend of mine responsible for decorating and launching a float about organ and tissue donation in the Rose Parade saw an opportunity. "Come out to Pasadena and help us decorate our float," he said. "I don't know how, but I promise it will help you." So I flew out, arrived on a sunny, Southern California day, and was given a sky blue Donate Life volunteer t-shirt to wear. I put it on gratefully, happy to be an anonymous volunteer in...

Billing Gazette | Leann Eckroth Photo: Annika Plummer, second from right, holds a portrait of her deceased husband, Tyler, made from flower seeds, while kneeling next to Tyler’s father, Boyd, left, and mother, Susan, far right, last week in the lobby of the Eye Bank of North Dakota in Bismarck, N.D. Tyler, an eye donor, died earlier this year, and his portrait will be on the Donate Life Float in the annual Rose Bowl Parade on New Year’s Day in California. In the background are relatives Rodney and Teri Nelson, with grandson, Haakon, Jen and Dey Obrigewitch, Marni Wade and Birch Obrigewitch, 7. BISMARCK, N.D. -- Family members paid a special tribute to eye donor Tyler Plummer, 33, of Dickinson this month when they finished creating an image of him for a Rose Bowl Parade float featuring organ donors. Tyler, who grew up in Baker, Mont., died from complications caused by a viral-based heart condition on Jan. 25. His eyes have been given to two recipients in Indiana, said Karen Thomas, ...

The Province | Susan Lazaruk Photo: Margaret Benson has bounced back from grave illnesses to win athletic awards.  Photograph by: Nick Procaylo , Province Except for a mild cold, Margaret Benson presents a picture of health - fit, trim, clear-eyed with youthful skin and flowing, long brown hair. It's hard to reconcile that image with the news her doctor gave her almost 40 years ago when she was 14, that cystic fibrosis would kill her within a year. "My doctor said, 'Go and live your life for the next year to the best of your ability,"' said Benson, the Courage to Come Back Award recipient in the medical category, at the North Vancouver home she shares with her husband, Brian, of 24 years. "I remember I said, 'No, no, I'm going to live until I'm old and grey,'" she said, laughing that at 53, she has only 10 grey hairs. Benson became a teacher at 21, fulfilling a dream she had had since she was three. She's taught ever since, spending 1...

Eureka Alert Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have developed an “atlas” of immune cells in the body after analyzing tissues harvested from organ donors. Their results provide a unique view of the distribution and function of T lymphocytes in healthy individuals. In addition, the findings represent a major step toward development of new strategies for creating vaccines and immunotherapies. The study was published today in the online edition of the journal Immunity. T cells, a type of white blood cell, play a major role in cell-mediated immunity, in which the immune system produces various types of cells to defend the body against pathogens, cancer cells, and foreign substances. "We found that T cells are highly compartmentalized â€" that is, each tissue we examined had its own complement of T cells," said study leader Donna L. Farber, PhD, professor of surgical sciences at CUMC and a principal investigator with the new Columbia Center for Translationa...

KTBS | Erin Buchanan  MINDEN, La. -Today was just one stop along the way in a 'Journey of the Heart', a mission to honor and remember those who've saved lives through the loss of their own. "The neat process about donation is it's not just the donor. Anyone can donate. It's about the recipient in need, it's what you need to survive and make your life better," says Elizabeth Fox, whose husband - David - died of a massive heart attack 8 years ago. David, of El Dorado, AR, was a longtime resident of Minden. He was one of three donors whose families were on hand at Minden Medical Center for a special ceremony to honor their memory. "We worked a lot with children in the community and we knew the need of organ donation," Elizabeth says. Ryan Viator, from Lafayette, died in April of 2000 at the age of 20. He's since saved three lives through the donation of his two kidneys and liver. "It feels like we're being brought back together with...

The Atlanta Journal Constitution | Gracie Bonds Staples At exactly 7:30 a.m. Friday, Dr. Harrison Pollinger will begin removing John Hembree’s left kidney using an minimally invasive procedure called robotic nephrectomy. As he does, Dr. Miguel Tan, surgical director of kidney and pancreas transplantation at the Piedmont Transplant Institute, will be across the hall, prepping his patient for the transplant. And in what will be Georgia’s first-ever “live tweet” of a robotic nephrectomy and living donor kidney transplant, Dr. Matthew Mulloy will be hunkered down at Piedmont Hospital, providing the 140-word play-by-play. The story also will be available on the hospital’s Facebook page, Pinterest, instagram and YouTube. The doctors are hoping to leverage the powers of social media to increase awareness about the need for living organ donors and inspire medical students and physicians in training across the country to participate and ask questions during the live tweet. “Social m...

Herald on Line | Business Wire Photo: Sue Pasewald holds a photo of her daughter Christina, a tissue donor. Business Wire MIDDLETON, WIS. â€" A Wisconsin mother will honor the life of her daughter and thousands of others who gave the gift of life through organ and tissue donation as one of 32 people riding a special float in the 2013 Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif. Sue Pasewald, mother of tissue donor Christina, will ride the Donate Life float in recognition of the thousands of individuals who donate tissue including bone, skin, heart valves, connective tissue, veins and pericardium each year. Sue’s trip to Pasadena is sponsored by RTI Donor Services, a founding sponsor of the float and one of more than 120 associations across the nation â€" including organ and tissue recovery organizations, industry partners, transplant centers and transplant recipient groups â€" supporting the float project. This is RTI’s tenth consecutive year supporting the program. Sue and her h...

Salem News, Ohio Roses and sprigs of holly for the world not ending at 6:11 a.m. on Friday. The fruitcakes (the real ones and not the, er, unusual tasting could double-as-door stops kind your aging out-of-state aunt sent the family every year) twisted the Mayan calendar around. They were loudly proclaiming a pending doomsday. That would have ruined a lot of Christmases. Somewhere in the hereafter, a lot of Mayans are laughing. Roses and sprigs of holly for a most wonderful of Christmas gifts. An organ donation. Angie Pitts is a Salem High graduate. She is the daughter of Alicia and Bob Pitts and lives in Alliance. She works at the Chef's Table in Lisbon and has a son, Mac, in the fifth grade. Angie will soon be spending some time in the hospital along with her uncle, Rob Mehno. You might know Rob. An excellent superintendent of schools for Leetonia and an excellent person. He is badly in need of a kidney transplant. He knows the drill. It will be his second transplant. The first ca...

AME Info Photo from 3rd Middle East Transplant Games More than 150 organ transplant donors and beneficiaries from 23 countries across the Middle East are competing at the Armed Forces Offices Club for the 4th Middle East Transplant Games (METG). Under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Fatima Bint Mubarak, the Supreme Chairperson of Family Development, the Chairwoman of the General Women's Union, the Chairwoman of the Council of Motherhood and Childhood and the President of the Family Development Foundation, METG, the largest sports gathering of organ transplant donors and beneficiaries, aims to raise public awareness about the importance of a healthy and active living post-transplant. By competing in a variety of sport disciplines such as running, swimming, table tennis and bowling, participating organ transplant donors and those who have received an organ hope to showcase not just their athletic skills, but also educate the public the benefits of an active lifestyle. "Thi...

The Commercial Appeal | Jane Roberts PHOTO BY KYLE KURLICK December 6, 2012 - Yolanda Walton-Torres (left) receives a hug from Javontay Reggans during a ceremony at East High School to dedicate a floragraph of her daughter, Lexie Davis, who was an organ donor. The floragraph of Lexie will be featured along with 71 other donors on the Donate Life float at the 2013 Rose Bowl Parade. (Kyle Kurlick/Special to The Commercial Appeal) Lexie Davis was back at East High on Thursday, determined as ever and smiling the smile teenagers flash when the world's going their way. This time, her face was made of poppy seeds, ground coffee and dried strawberry flakes. For her mother, it was like Lexie had come back to life in a big way. "I felt like I was going to the Academy Awards in honor of my daughter," said Yolanda Walton-Torres. "She won best actress today." Lexie's "floragraph" is one of 72 organ donor portraits to be featured on the Donate Life float in the ...

Missoulian |    By SANJAY TALWANI Carla Morgan Wright is a silly 5-year-old princess who loves singing and dancing and entertaining others, and she likes telling her story to people. “She’ll just walk up to complete strangers and be like, ‘Hi, I’m Carla and I have half a heart,’” her mother, Jen Wright, said by telephone from Seattle last week. Carla, who normally lives in Cascade with her parents, Jen and Bobby, now has to update that story. She now has a full heart, the result of a transplant Nov. 15 at Seattle Children’s Hospital. But while the notification of a donor organ the day before answered the family’s prayers, it’s a long road to recovery from such a procedure. Since the surgery, Carla has endured issues in her lungs and brain. She’s had reactions to the drugs that are designed to keep her from rejecting the new heart. She was off a ventilator and back on. For a time, she appeared to be dazed and hallucinating. Other times, she’s been acting m...

December 8, 2012  - Float decorating season is in full swing as floragraph families and decorators continue work on the 72 floragraphs aboard "Journeys of the Heart". To Download a higher resolution version of a photo click the photo during the slideshow, then click again to be taken to the photos' Flickr page. From here you will be able to download higher resolution versions of that photo. Click here for a tutorial on how to download photos from Flickr. Click Here To Go Directly to the Flickr Gallery Photo Credit :  Luis Ramirez  To follow the Donate Life Float Journey, visit www.donatelifefloat.org A Created with  flickr slideshow . Back to Photographic Journal homepage

North Jersey.com | MIKE LAMBERTI Photo: Mike DiPiano (Santa) and his ‘elves’ pose for a photo at last year’s Christmas Party.  He's as imposing as they come, a hard-nosed, somewhat gruff-voiced man who if he snarled at you, the first impulse would be to run the other way. But underneath that exterior lies as compassionate a man as they come, a family guy through-and-through, a man who met his mortality at a relatively young age and not only prevailed, but devotes his daily endeavors to making sure others can appreciate the gift of life as much as he. Welcome to Mike DiPiano's world, and this Friday afternoon, 'Big D' will be in familiar territory when he dons a big red suit, white beard and black boots at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston to ensure some special youngsters will have a memorable Christmas holiday. On the heals of the awful events in Newtown, Ct. last Friday, this Christmas party will tug at the heartstrings of Big D and his 'elves' a...

Hazard Herald | Bailey Richards Beth Warren is pictured here with Ben Pratt, to whom she donated a kidney last month. (photos courtesy of Shayla Pratt) Ben Pratt was born at Mary Breckenridge Hospital in Hyden three years ago, and from his first breath his life hasn’t been an easy one. As soon as he was born doctors realized that something was wrong, and quickly transferred him to the medical center at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. “They sent him to UK because he was having trouble breathing, and they had noticed his lung was collapsed,” said Shayla Pratt, Ben’s mother and a former dialysis nurse. “Once he got there they realized he was in kidney failure.” Ben, who lives with his parents and sister here in Perry County, stayed for over four months in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at UK. He was cared for in part by Beth Warren, his primary nurse who would became more than a caregiver for young Ben; she would become a lifeline. “We just got to know her really ...

The Day - Southeastern Connecticut | Marianne Sullivan Photo by Marianne Sullivan/Valley Courier Deep River resident Sage Novak and her daughters Grace and Natalie put the finishing touches on a floragraph of Robert Novak, Sage's late husband and the father of the two girls. The floragraph will become a part of Donate Life float in the New Year's Day Rose Parade. Robert Novak died after suffering a medical episode in 2008. His donated tissues benefitted two infant boys. The floragraph honors his donation. The other children joining Sage Novak are Abby Shakun, Patrick Shakun, and Madilyn Novak, cousins of Grace and Natalie. Tissue Donor 'Changed Lives Forever' DEEP RIVER - On June 7, 2008, 33-year-old Robert Novak, Jr., after winning a golf tournament with his father, suffered an undetermined medical episode and died while driving home to Deep River. He was the husband of Sage and the father of two small girls, Grace and Natalie. His death changed his family's lives ...

Transplant Games of America HOUSTON, TX â€" On Wednesday, December 19, 2012, officials from the Transplant Games of America® (TGA) announced the City of Houston has been awarded the 2014 Transplant Games. The multi-sport festival will attract organ, tissue, and bone marrow transplant recipients, living donors, and donor families from across the country. The successful bid was submitted by the Harris County - Houston Sports Authority, who will manage the games under the auspices of the TGA. The Transplant Games will take place July 10-15, 2014, utilizing BBVA Compass Stadium, the George R. Brown Convention Center, and various other facilities throughout the City of Houston. Bill Ryan, President and CEO of the Transplant Games of America stated, “Houston won out over a number of exceptional communities for a variety of reasons. The Sports Authority bid clearly demonstrated an overwhelming commitment to the rich history of the Transplant Games and the cause of organ donation and t...

ABC News 4 | Stefanie Bainum NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) â€" On Thursday, a mother met the man for the first time who now carries her son's heart. Twenty-year-old Maraleius Birdsong was shot and killed while delivering a Domino's pizza in North Charleston in March. Birdsong's mother donated her son's organs, including his heart, kidneys pancreas, and liver, an act that has saved up to four lives. That generous spirit is being recognized on Tuesday with a decorating ceremony of a float that will be featured in the 2013 Rose Parade. "The mother and family and friends will get to put the finishing touches on this floral portrait of her son and we will get to send her out to rose parade for her to see it on the Donate Life float," said Mark Johnson, media relations director at LifePoint. Birdsong will be honored by the organ donation groups, LifePoint and Donate Life South Carolina. The artistic floral portrait, known as a floragraph, will be featured on th...

WFTV BACKGROUND: A kidney transplant is surgery to replace your own diseased kidneys with a healthy donor kidney. Conditions that run in the family will affect the kidneys; for instance, polycystic kidney disease is a disease where normal kidney tissue is replaced with fluid filled sacs. Glomerular disease is another condition that damages the tiny filtering units in the kidneys called glomeruli. High blood pressure and diabetes are the top two reasons why adults need kidney transplants. A person can survive on one healthy kidney; however, if something happens to that kidney, then a kidney transplant is a recommended option. (Source: kidshealth.org)  There are two types: living donors and cadaver donors. A living donor could be a family member, friend, or any person willing to give a kidney to someone who needs it. A Cadaver donor is someone who recently died. Typically the key to a successful kidney transplant is having the closest possible blood and tissue matches. Tests must be ...

Huffington Post | William Laney Here we are again -- in the midst of another Christmas season. And for at least a little while, we focus on family and friends -- and what to give them. We want our gifts to show thoughtfulness. We want our gifts to be something that is useful; something that is apppreciated.. And when we think we have succeeded, there's that wonderful, very special feling that comes from giving. And it's quite possible that sometime during the hoiday season, that wonderful feeling will come from giving to someone other than family or friends -- someone we do not even know. Perhaps it will be a seemingly small and unplanned gift, such as a donation placed in a Salvation Army sidewalk kettle.. On such an occasion we will know not the beneficiary of our generosity; nor will we know what good our gift will do. There is something we can give, however, which is priceless and yet costs nothing. It is the gift of life. This is the gift we give when we become an organ do...

Jewish Journal | Ilana Angel I have worn glasses since I was five and have such severe Keratoconus I had both of my corneas transplanted. Keratoconus is an eye disease that affects the structure of the cornea. The cornea is the clear tissue covering the front of the eye. The shape of the cornea slowly changes from the normal round shape to a cone shape, which causes vision problems. I wear contact lenses most of the time, but do occasionally use glasses, which are truly horrible. They are super thick, change how my eyes look, and are too embarrassing to wear any place other than in the privacy of my own home, and only when I am alone. If I could change one thing about myself, it would be my vision. I’d love to be able to see better. I have always been grateful for sight. It has gotten worse as I’ve gotten older, and while my new corneas have been a blessing, my eyesight is deteriorating and that makes me see things a little differently, both literally and figuratively. I have ...

Houston Forward Times | Jeffrey L. Boney There is nothing like the Christmas spirit. Christmas has always traditionally been known as a time of peace, love and goodwill to all. It is a time when people are more helpful and more giving, and it seems that the whole world is transformed. It is also a time when parents sneak a peek at their kids’ letters to Santa to get a hint as to what they want for Christmas. For many, sometimes the most-wanted Christmas gift can’t be wrapped. This Christmas, Sean and Regis Richards is asking God to bless their little one-year old baby boy Ethan Richards with the greatest gift of all; the gift of a new heart. BABY ETHAN “It’s a boy!” Those are the exciting words that Sean and Regis Richards heard from the doctors when their son, Ethan Richards, entered into the world. That elation turned into major concern when a trip to the doctor turned out to be so much more. Baby Ethan was born a healthy 7 lb. 6 oz. baby, who was 19 ¾ in. long when he e...

Scripps Health Ongoing Support for Organ Transplant Patients This unique educational series features a monthly guest speaker on a variety of health topics, and is open to anyone in the community. The lecture is followed by individual support groups for liver and kidney disease patients and their families; the goal is to help participants cope with the stresses associated with the transplant process and provide updates on treatment advances. Guest speaker 6:00 p.m. â€" 7:00 p.m.: support group 7:00 p.m. -8:00 p.m. January 2, 2013 Speaker: Jerry Gold, Ph.D., director, Scripps Behavioral Health services There is help; find it when you need it In healthcare, as in many other things in life, knowing what your options are and where to go to get what you need can be lifesavers. That’s especially true with mental health services, which are provided to Scripps patients on both an inpatient and outpatient basis, as well as in urgent care and the emergency room. Dr. Gold, administrative di...

The Plain Dealer | Marilyn Bernstein Photo: Ozetta Harris. Credit: Lisa DeJong, The Plain Dealer On Sunday, I wrote about recovering addict Ozetta Harris , a liver transplant recipient who is determined to show God she's thankful for her second chance. On Monday, someone who read the column hastily invited her to come to a party that same day at the Cleveland Clinic. It was a roomful of Ozetta Harrises. All celebrating another year on this planet. Here's something I now know. No one appreciates life like a transplant patient. At this party, hosted annually by the Clinic for its liver transplant support group, sparkly holiday outfits don't really matter. There's not a lot of light chitchat. It's all about what you managed to accomplish with the year you were just blessed to live through. "It was a lot of grateful people in there," Harris marveled. Almost 100 attendees -- the biggest crowd ever -- shared a meal of chicken, rigatoni and vegetables while shari...

Southern Eye Bank of New Orleans On behalf of our Board of Trustees and Staff, Southern Eye Bank wishes you the most joyous of Holidays! Be sure to see the DONATE LIFE Rose Parade Float on New Years Day. For the 32 people honored to ride the 10th annual Donate Life float in the 2013 Rose Parade, their emotional journeys will mirror the highs,and all points in between shared by the national community of organ and tissue recipients, transplant candidates, living donors, and families of deceased donors they represent. Themed “Journeys of the Heart,” the 2013 Donate Life float will carry individuals aged 12 to 68 from 17 states and Canada who were selected by local organizations for their examples of courage, hope, generosity and advocacy for organ and tissue donation. The float’s collection of joyful hearts representing the new life made possible by transplantation is grounded by a reverent dedication garden filled with roses bearing personal messages honoring those who make the gi...

The Villager Newspaper | Peter Jones Photo: Robin Mitchell of Centennial keeps this collage of photos as a tribute to her son Joe and five of his seven organ recipients. Robin Mitchell and Janet Rost have very different stories, but both lives were touched by the modern miracle of organ donation. Mitchell, a Centennial resident, lost her 22-year-old son Joe to a fatal seizure in 2008, but his decision to become an organ, eye and tissue donor has saved the lives of five men and restored the sight of two others. Rost was given at least two second chances at life after she received a life-saving kidney transplant this year. The Greenwood Village woman’s own kidney had been ravaged by hepatitis C, a disease she had contracted more than 30 years earlier from a blood transfusion she received after a near-fatal car crash. The two stories are among the many that complete the ongoing circle of organ-donation. Andrea Smith, spokeswoman for Donor Alliance, the federally designated nonprofit org...